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Does Sir dress to the left, or to the right.

November 20, 09 23:55

Hello One and All

My first lead thread. Go easy with me, I am in HL virgin territory! Afterall, I am now at First Grade and am posting plus Smiley's. Whatever next? Grade Two of course - with pictures! (Maybe next time if I feel confident).

Well, what I was thinking was this:- most right-handers wear their watch on the left, but some go on the right.

I fully appreciate why a person who is left-handed wears their watch on the right wrist. This makes sense. You can out it on and take it off easily, maybe even wind it, adjust it, stroke or caress it with a sure and steady hand... steady! Easy Tiger!

So, what is going on with all the people who are not left-handed, but persist in wearing their watch on the right wrist?

Why, oh why, oh why? How do you get it on and off (seriously, have you ever tried folks to put your watch on the 'wrong' wrist for you?)

Wishing to be completely confrontational - it is just wrong, we should ban it and make it a criminal offence. Or at least a social faux pas. To be sniggered and pointed at!

At the very least, if you are right-handed and you have your watch on your right wrist, I feel I have been tricked into thinking you are a 'lefty'. You have double-bluffed me, and this puts me off balance, it distracts me, and I spend too much time thinking about it.

Some critical quesitons:-

What on earth happens when you're ambidextrous. No watch at all?

Perhaps we can get the stats on it. Maybe Alex's Marketing types know the ratio of weirdo's to 'normo's'?

Should these odd-balls be tought to go back to the left, or conversely, do we agree there is a real need for more of the so-called 'lefty' watch to be made available? Have I uncovered an 'unmet need'? Hey look at that, a real marketing term!

Are there any left-handers out there that still wear their watch on the left wrist ( I want to hear from you as you must surely be in your own extra special category)

Does anybody care?

I do.

I was born left-handed, taught to be right-handed, and wear my watch on my left wrist. I consider myself to be normal. At least in that regard.

you really put the bar high
All I can say is that right handed folks who wear their watches on their right wrist are just a bunch of poseurs who probably were insensitive of seeing Bambi's mom killed by a hunter.
Now can someone please help me pull my tongue out of my cheek?

Re: you Brits are a whole different breed :-) WOW Gary for your 1st post

11/21/2009 - 01:07

Another thing playing on my mind. I calculate, at current post rate per day, you are going to hit 5000 posts exactly - on 31st December 2009. Quite late in the day, maybe around Tea-Time. 16:34. I like details.

Re: I hope you will all be behind your computers on that date to witness

11/21/2009 - 16:06

Not that I want to spoil it for everyone else, but is that when you are going to announce:-
1. That there is indeed going to be a watch produced dedicated to members of the Hour Lounge
2. You needed to register before November 1st 2009 to qualify
3. We are going to be individually presented the watch by M. Torres himself
4. The watch will be to your own specification and perfect in every way
5. It will be free
Am I close?!

You ask an usual, but good question (and congrats on using the smileys, they are essential to any serious HL members)
I'm right-handed, and I wear my watch on the left hand - like most people. At the moment, I don't think I would wear a watch on the right hand, unless it was a Destro model.
It is indeed easier to protect my watch when it is on the left hand (the only though part is convincing my wife to walk to my right - one of the firt time that she did walk to me left, one of her rings ended up leaving a battle scar on my dear VC), and now I am very used to going to my left when I want to know the time.
However, when I was 16 and wearing my Timex Indiglo (the black and blue version, my first true watch love), I was always wearing it on the right. That was this way until a few years later, someone told me I was completely wrong and that I was putting my beloved at risk. It took me a few weeks to adjust, and at the beginning I didn't like it at all. So, if it wasn't for this friend, I might be wearing my VC on my right wrist...
Cheers,
Francois
PS - I do hope that soon, you will be posting some pictures... Good luck in your quest

Thanks Francois! Let's see how that pans out on the VC EP QP front! I doubt anyone is going to pplay Turkey with me actually.... I am a buyer you know. A mean, bad buyer.
Anyhow. Would you ever consider buying a left-hooker just so you could conceivably put a watch on each wrist?
I have seen a couple of guys wearing 2 watches - looks kind of goofy.
However, would it make it cool, even acceptable, if the one on the right wrist was a lefty? I wonder.
Discuss!

Hello and welcome to the HL. Well,I am a twin and my twin is left handed.Recently,I underwent a series of psycomeric and prctical tests and at the end of it,without prior knwledge of my twin's left handedness - I was told we were both born left handed and that I had fought against my natural instincts to end up right handed - yet I put my watch on my right hand and its so easy to put on - I struggle to put it on my left hand - so maybe there are some other psuedo left handers like me out there as well.
Dr S

I peeked into this thread dreading that I might find a discussion on which arm goes into the shirt sleeve first, and which leg into the pant (or even which way does it hang ) but instead I find this most relevant topic.
In a desperate attempt to maximize my ever-decreasing brain capacity, I've experimented recently with off-handedness for a number of routine tasks. Scientific evidence has established that interrupting your left and right-handed patterns actually stimulates the growth of new neuron pathways. They call it Neurobics...for brain aerobics .
For instance, even though a rightie, I am now fluent in left-handed computer mousing, including all the most difficult drag-and-drop manipulations. I used to sign cheques with my off-hand, but the lawyer says I'm not supposed to talk about it .
I also brush my teeth from the left side and dedicate my left index finger to guiding the floss between my teeth. Left-handed hair combing can produce inconsistent results but with today's styles it doesn't really seem to matter! I'm working my way towards the biggest committment yet; relocating the toilet paper dispenser to the other wall.
More to the point, I experimented with wearing my watch on the right wrist. After a few days of flapping the left, then the right arm about in public I settled into a comfortable procedure. But for the first time I discovered just how much work mon bras droit really does! Ever vigilant not to bruise my precious timepiece, I became hyper-aware of the places it was visiting on a regular basis. In and out of the washing machine, down the garbage chute, under the couch for that escaped macadamia nut...it was incessant. Finally the risk became unacceptable and my watch returned to home base...on the left side .

I am soooo pleased you listed several of the reasons why it shouldn't happen..... but it does! I am beside myself trying to work it out. I am not really of course, but it makes no sense!
Thanks for the additional examples to aid my point - and keep up the re-establishment of lapsed / under-exercised neurotic pathways....

Gentlemen
A thoroughly enjoyable thread.
Gary - very impressive discussion initiated. You can count me among the lefties wearing their watch on their left hand. Never considered another option. Feels un-natural for some reason...
When thinking about the origins of watch-wearing decorum, there are a few points to consider:
1. Wearing on the left originated with the location of the wounding crown at the "3". Wearing on right would thus require serious maneuvering...
2. There is a famous exception to that rule: diving watches, historically, worn on the right. That is due to the fact you mostly use the equipment when ascending or descending and you need your left hand for the inflator. Raising your left hand when using the inflator can interefere with the computer's depth calculations and thus give you incorrect safety stops.
3. Though today either hand is acceptable, an elegant way of avoiding such a decision is wearing a pocket watch. In that case (literally), a tourbillion is not just for show...
Veillotron - after reading about your vacation, and following up after your strap changes, I permit myself to say that reading about your effort in getting your wife to walk to your right is among the more delightful bits of VC-ownership-related entries I have read so far. A votre sante.

Fantastic news!
All those wearing their Dive watch on the right (or left is also acceptable of course) so that their dive computer doesn't get confused during ascending manouevres can sit down, and rest easy. You are excused!
The rest of you still need to account for yourselves!
I'm waiting!.....

Well, you raised a very interesting subject Gary. I never really gave that much thought.
I do not care whether you wear your watch on the right or left wrist. I guess it is a matter of your own comfort. That is how I take and perceive it. Being a natural right-handed I have always gone with my instinct and strapped a watch on my left wrist like 90% of the population. Just another natural and thoughtless habit.
But what got me thinking in your post was the ambidexterity part. Literally, skilled with both hands... When you look closely at the origin of the word dexter you will see that it stands for 'right-handed' in Latin and has been historically associated with skill. Also a right hand in ancient times was a symbol of power. And simply the word right is synonymous to corecteness, authority and justice.
On the other hand (no pun intended), left hand, in ancient times, symbolized misfortune or natural evil. If you look at the ambiguous meaning of the original Latin sinestra in current English it can be interpreted as 'left' as in technical sinistrality=left-handedness or just as well as bad, evil or even criminal...
What is my point here? Am I trying to prove that the population's lefthanded minority has a background and reason to feel inferior to the right-handed majority? Of course not, just the opposite (and that coming from a right handed jock). Just bear with me for a while longer and move to another passage.
The left side is often associated with awkwardness and clumsiness. Just to examplify it let me present those two expressions "having two left feet" - English and "having two left hands" - Polish, they translate into being no good, having no skill. Also 'doing something right' or 'straying to the left' (in Polish literally stands for doing afoul) clearly state the meanings. Why in today's world left side is so badly discriminated in general? Why are southpaws (=lefties) supposed to be worse specimen?
They are not. I will try and prove the common thesis on the left-handers being an inferiority wrong based on a tennis example. In tennis, southpaws hold the racket in their left hand. Because of this, their grip of the handle is supposedly adjusted in a slightly different style from right-handed players. Some world champion left-handed tennis players include Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, and Rafael Nadal. My tennis coach, Mariusz, is a southpaw and he is a teriffic player and instructor.
My point being here that no matter what lefties engage themseves into, let this be tennis players or professional sushi chefs, they are just as skilled as the rest of us regular right-handed specimen. They are capable of reaching the highest top-shelf standards and goals.
Thus, all the alleged discrepancies and unfortunate biases towards lefties, southpaws and oddities should be deemed as 'unright' and dropped by nowadays standards.
Just my two groszy worth...

Hi Radek
My primary focus and curiosity is those people that wear their watch on the wrist that they are 'handed'.
That this patently makes absolutely no sense whatsoever for all practical purposes (many highlighted by others in the thread) .... peeks my interest in what must be driving the behaviour to form.
The disadvantages of doing this seem to be clear enough, and yet people still do it.
All genotype and phenotype sensibilities dictate that people wouldn't - yet they do!

Hi Hewitgar,
Thank you for a most enjoyable post. Since you have put significant thought into your post I thought I would share some of my thoughts.
I have always considered myself a righty, although growing up I would golf and swing a bat left handed. I also water-ski (slalom) in the lefty manner (right foot forward).
I have always worn my watch on my left wrist since my father told me this was the proper thing to do. His educational style was often rather didactic with little explanation and reinforced the need for much conformity. He also educated me on issues of clean wicks and dirty holes which I believe has strongly influenced my choice of vocation.
I have tried wearing a watch on my right hand but find it cumbersome and uncomfortable. Whether I am right-handed or left -handed has never been formally documented (it would require neuropsychiatric testing). As an urologist I have taken the time to learn to do virtually all surgical tasks with both hands. Whether it is tying a one or two handed knot or holding a pair of scissors upside-down to cut with the left hand I pay little attention to which hand does a task although my right hand does feel more natural. I know of at least one surgeon who was a right hand dominant practitioner until he suffered a stroke and lost full use of his right hand. He taught himself to be a left hand dominant surgeon and his colleagues felt he was technically superior after his stroke than before.
I suspect the convention of wearing a watch on the left hand derives from the convenience of using the right hand to wind and set a watch. Holding the watch to use the stem is most easily done with the right hand if the stem is at the three o’clock position. The twelve o’clock position proves more difficult with the lugs in the way. For symmetry of design a Savonette layout keeps the dial symmetrical with the second hand in the mid-line usually at the six o’clock position (the Patrimony Traditionnelle uses a Lepine layout with the second hand at the nine o’clock position). Some vintage twelve o’clock winders are highly desirable and may use either a Savonette or a Lepine layout. Obviously a standard three o’clock stem watch cannot be wound or set if it is on the right hand (but are you not supposed to avoid manipulating the stem while the watch is worn anyway?)
True handedness is not determined by ones choice or natural tendency but by brain hemispheric dominance. This can sometimes be determined by eye dominance (but not accurately), by formal neuropsychiatric testing or optimally by PET imaging. Our brains can be considered either a remarkable piece of engineering or a cobbled together evolutionary tool. The business end of our superior human brain is the over-sized frontal lobes which reside physically on top of our rudimentary mid and hind brain. The frontal lobes are separated and communicate via a dedicated “bus-bar” called the Corpus Callosum. As such our brains experience the world in a bizarre milieu of upside down, inverted, backwards and right to left crossed sensations. Our contact with the world is also backwards with the right hemisphere of the brain controlling the left side of the body and vice-versa. The right side of the brain is dominant in spatial relations while the left side tends to regulate linear and logical thought. THE VAST MAJORITY OF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD ARE LEFT HEMISPHERE DOMINANT. The preponderance (>90%) of left handed people are in fact LEFT HEMISPHERE dominant. Only a very small number of people are truly right hemisphere dominant and many of these cases may be related to head injuries. True brain left-handedness would require right hemispheric dominance.
So what is all this nonsense to prove? Whether one is right or left handed is a difficult thing to accurately determine. The hand one wears a watch on may be determined from multiple factors including convention, habit, conformity, nonconformity, convenience, watch design, and watch ergonomics and possibly handedness. I am not sure that there is any way to determine correctly on which hand to wear a watch it is a matter of choice and convention. Perhaps one who wishes to portray themselves as left handed would wear a watch on their right hand.
An interesting question might be ”would we do more with our left hands if we did not wear a watch on it?”
No doubt about it sir, you are no fool.
Best regards,
Mike S.

I guess in the end the most powerful driver is always going to be the forming of a habit / training / instruction to do it a certain way in the beginning, and depending on when 'the beginning' is, you tend to stick with it, or reject it.

Well Gary,as per my earlier post - I am a right hander,whom wears his watch on my right hand - I have not been subject to peer influences in this respect,its just easier for me to put the watch on and buckle the strap,or bracelet that way - are there any more HL's whom fit this description,because it would be interesting to get their point of view. Just to add more controversy to this debate - the one aspect of watch wearing that really irritates me,is when people wear the watch with the dial turned to the underside of the wrist,instead of displaying the dial uppermost ahhhhhhhhhhh !
Dr Strangelovve

For a lady, this would be a practical problem, rather than an "ideological" one.
What if your favourite bracelet/bangle is supposed to be worn on the left wrist -
e.g. jade ones, and obviously you cannot wear them together(the watch and the bangle),
and you are right-handed, unfortunately! They are both precious, and are close to your heart,
you don't want either to get hurt, but you want to wear them both closer to your heart, i.e. the left wrist.
Dilemma indeed, I often drop the jade, because she cannot tell time...unless one day VC makes a magnifique
movement with jade
Till then, any solutions, Messieurs?